Keir Starmer’s legacy is overwhelmingly positive
"Keir Starmer leaves office having changed the course of his party and, as a result, the course of his country"
Patrick Hurley is the Labour MP for Southport
There are moments in public life when the horrifyingly gossip-fueled regular drumbeat of politics falls away and something more momentous comes into view.
Today is such a moment.
When Keir Starmer got the leadership of the Labour Party in 2020, I was incredibly pleased. The previous few years had been hugely difficult for us, for reasons I don’t wish to go into at this moment. Suffice to say, he inherited a party and a movement wounded both by defeat and also by incompetence. It was uncertain of its future. Many saw the scale of the task before him, and concluded he might set us on the path back to power in a decade or so. Few imagined he would be lead us to power himself in just four years.
And yet he did. That fact alone will mean that Keir will go down in history as one of the most consequential party leaders in Labour history. His legacy, seen in the round, is overwhelmingly positive and will be seen to be when the history books are written.
With patience, painstaking resolve, and a profound sense of duty, he methodically rebuilt our party’s standing, restored its claim to govern, and led it back into office. In doing so, he brought to an end fourteen rotten years of Conservative government and achieved one of the most significant political turnarounds in modern British history.
There is a passage in Ecclesiastes which reminds us that to everything there is a season. A time to plant, and a time to harvest. A time to build up, and a time to step aside. Public life is no exception. What Keir brought to the party in 2019 was a sense of being careful, methodical and cautious. He rebuilt trust in the party and put us back into contention for government. Government in 2026, however, requires something more. It requires speed. It requires urgency. It requires a willingness to take decisions and push them through.
No leader serves forever, and no chapter remains open indefinitely. In that vein, the measure of leadership is not its duration, but what is left behind when it ends. Keir is leaving behind a Labour party renewed, and handing the baton on to someone who can build on his good work.
Keir Starmer leaves office having changed the course of his party and, as a result, the course of his country. He bequeaths to his successor a Labour Party stronger than the one he inherited, a government that literally millions of people are rooting to do better, and a political legacy that will long outlive the contests and controversies of the present day.
History will be kind in its judgement. Keir’s legacy will be felt in the scale of the task he undertook and the magnitude of what he achieved after 2020. Tomorrow, we look to the future, but today, we acknowledge how far we’ve already come.
For all of that, he deserves our thanks.
Image credit: Lauren Hurley / Number 10 – Creative Commons
Left Foot Forward doesn't have the backing of big business or billionaires. We rely on the kind and generous support of ordinary people like you.
You can support hard-hitting journalism that holds the right to account, provides a forum for debate among progressives, and covers the stories the rest of the media ignore. Donate today.
Donate today
